Why Putin's toughest rival won't back down

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A rowdy group of a dozen men from the pro-Kremlin National Liberation Movement, flanked by 30 or so hired young thugs in sportswear, is arguing with security to let them in. One man's T-shirt reads "Fuck USA." Another man sports a shirt with an image of the former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. He holds a sign saying, "Navalny, get out of Russia," loudly shouting that the opposition figure is a "spy for America!"

Things are getting heated when a voice suddenly bellows from the loudspeakers: It's Navalny. And rather than let the guards push the men away, he invites the rabble-rousers in.

For the first 15 minutes of his speech, as hecklers shout themselves hoarse, Navalny can barely get a word in. At some point, someone in the crowd hurls a red, white and blue, star-spangled dildo at him.

Navalny appears unfazed by the vitriol and objects thrown his way. But as soon as the men stop catch their breath, he strikes back.

One by one, he rips apart their poorly argued claims, masterfully shutting them down. The audience erupts in applause, delighted by the verbal sparring.

There is no more heckling. Everyone now listens to what he has to say about Russian President Vladimir Putin, "a man desperately trying to become an eternal emperor," a "liar" who is "destroying Russia."

Until recently, Navalny couldn't leave Moscow. Since February 2013, the 39-year-old lawyer, anti-corruption campaigner and sharp-tongued Kremlin critic had been under house arrest, banned from using the telephone or the Internet. (He was still able to publish messages on his popular blog and on Twitter with the help of his wife.)

"I watched many of the top 250 films during my house arrest," he says. "The hit for me under house arrest was Grand Theft Auto 5."

Navalny first shot to prominence a few years ago when he began publishing evidence of high-level corruption within the Kremlin, exposing the hidden estates and foreign bank accounts of Putin and his inner circle. During the winter of 2011, he led tens of thousands of Russians in protests against government corruption in Moscow.

Charismatic and outspoken, Western-leaning but nationalistic, Navalny captured the hearts and minds of hipsters and housewives who hoped the handsome, blue-eyed leader could become Russia's next president.

Russian security forces eventually quashed the demonstrations and Navalny, who was seen as the most threatening opponent to the Kremlin, found a target on his back. Russian authorities accused him of embezzlement and threatened to throw him in prison. Surprisingly, he was given a suspended sentence and allowed to run in Moscow's mayoral elections in September 2013.

Despite a vicious smear campaign by the state-run media, he was able to rally Muscovites to the ballot box, winning 27% of the vote.

But a lot has changed in these past two years.

Boris Nemtsov, a prominent fellow opposition leader, has been assassinated — steps from the Kremlin.

Under pressure from authorities, many of Navalny's financial backers have dropped out of politics or fled to the West.

Worse yet, the Kremlin's Internet censorship laws has made it increasingly difficult for Navalny to reach his digital-savvy support base. And his brother Oleg has been imprisoned.

"Of course I feel guilty," says Navalny, speaking with Mashable in Kaluga after the rally. "It's obvious that my brother is in jail because of me. And not only him, a few other people are, too. He knows it, I know that. That's hard. The Kremlin found a painful spot."